A depressed emotional state - feelings of hopelessness and apathy - could have a direct effect on your physical health.
A depressed emotional state - feelings of hopelessness and apathy - could have a direct effect on your physical health.
Stroke survivors are often described as apathetic - having a lack of emotion, interest, or concern. Apathy being a limiting factor to rehabilitation, often acting as a barrier to participation in promising therapies, more needs to be learned about apathy symptoms after stroke. Researchers, therefore, assessed 408 family caregivers to estimate the extent to which apathy changes health related quality of life with time over the first year after stroke and its impact on recovery. The caregivers filled out apathy questionnaires every four months, which identified the presence of behaviors indicative of apathy.
It was found that stroke survivors experiencing apathy, caring little about themselves and the world around them, had a slower rate of recovery. A third of the stroke survivors had minor apathy through the first year, with 3 percent having high levels of apathy. Apathy worsened for 7 percent of the survivors, and eased for 7 percent during the year.
Measurements of physical function showed that even very minor apathy had just as strong an impact on recovery as major apathy. Answers about the quality of life of the stroke survivors, such as their engagement in social activities, found lesser improvement among those whose apathy worsened.
The researchers concluded that some degree of apathy was prevalent and persistent after stroke and was predicted by older age, poor cognitive status, and low functional status after stroke. Even a minor level of apathy had an important and statistically significant impact on stroke outcomes.
Stroke survivors are often described as apathetic - having a lack of emotion, interest, or concern. Apathy being a limiting factor to rehabilitation, often acting as a barrier to participation in promising therapies, more needs to be learned about apathy symptoms after stroke. Researchers, therefore, assessed 408 family caregivers to estimate the extent to which apathy changes health related quality of life with time over the first year after stroke and its impact on recovery. The caregivers filled out apathy questionnaires every four months, which identified the presence of behaviors indicative of apathy.
It was found that stroke survivors experiencing apathy, caring little about themselves and the world around them, had a slower rate of recovery. A third of the stroke survivors had minor apathy through the first year, with 3 percent having high levels of apathy. Apathy worsened for 7 percent of the survivors, and eased for 7 percent during the year.
Measurements of physical function showed that even very minor apathy had just as strong an impact on recovery as major apathy. Answers about the quality of life of the stroke survivors, such as their engagement in social activities, found lesser improvement among those whose apathy worsened.
The researchers concluded that some degree of apathy was prevalent and persistent after stroke and was predicted by older age, poor cognitive status, and low functional status after stroke. Even a minor level of apathy had an important and statistically significant impact on stroke outcomes.
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